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gerd baby -how do you deal with it ?

My 7 week old baby has GERD and is on prevacid. It has reduced the spit up somewhat but not the choking and scary gasping for breath that happens whenever I put her down to sleep on her wedge (made by child physical therapy) and clearing of throat and more gasping that scares the daylights ot of me.
The odd thing is even the only time she does not gasp and choke and breathe weird is when I am holding her. Even if I hold her in the cradle hold she does not gasp and choke. But put her down on the wedge and it starts...

Re: gerd baby -how do you deal with it ?

If she's still doing it on the wedge, perhaps the wedge isn't helping as much as they'd like it too?

When infants are close to their parents, physically touching us, their body patterns get in sync with ours. This effect happens among adults too (snuggle with another adult, and you'll notice that the breathing patterns synchronize), but it's more intense with infants.

So maybe, when she's on you, her body is picking up signals from your body, enabling the systems to work better?

Have you raised your concerns about continued symptoms with baby's doctor? The gasping for breath, choking, and clearing throat are still pretty intense signs of GERD; it means that stuff is still coming up out of her stomach, just not all the way out of her mouth. Some mothers have found that the stomach contents that are coming up, but not all the way up, sometimes trickle down into baby's lungs, causing inflammation and infection. If there's a way to avoid that, your doc should have some ideas.

Shannon
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Re: gerd baby -how do you deal with it ?

My son had pretty bad gerd. We got him on zantac, but we still could never lay him down (even at an angle). For a while, the only way he and I got any sleep was for him to sleep on me in our recliner. But one can only sleep in a recliner for so long, so I got him an Amby natural motion bed. It's this hammock that keeps the baby more in an upright position and cradles him. It was a little expensive, but it was well worth it because after a week, he didn't need the zantac anymore (and hasn't needed it since), and we both got better sleep.

Re: gerd baby -how do you deal with it ?

I did read abt the lung infection, that is one of the things that freaks me out. The other thing I noticed is that if I lay her down on a hard surface she spits up immediately, as opposed to a slightly softer surface like her crib.

I find the recliner idea and the amby baby idea interesting...
How did you keep the baby from falling when u slept on the recliner ? I am so sleep deprieved that I would not wake up if the house fell on me.

Re: gerd baby -how do you deal with it ?

My sister-in-laws kids all had gerd... some to different degrees. At any rate ... instead of the wedge she put them to sleep in their car seats because it was an even greater angle then the wedge. They slept much better. I know it may sound "bad", but it worked for her. Good luck!

DS 12/13/07 nursed exclusively 15 mos!!

with DD Due April '10 - Looking forward to and DS having a new playmate!

~ Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music. ~

Re: gerd baby -how do you deal with it ?

My DS has horrible GERD and is too on Prevacid. He's doing much better but he's it was a long 4 months to get here. He had a couple episodes where he stopped breathing from choking on his spit up. Have you tried having your lo sleep on his side? I'm not sure if you have the type of wedge that they have him strapped in or not, but if not, I would try to put him to sleep on his side. After DS choked that one time, I've put him to sleep on his side ever since. On a side note, DS's gastrointerologist said that if they are going to inhale anything into their lungs, breast milk is the best thing. When babies inhale breast milk, they rarely get infections or complications from it.

Re: gerd baby -how do you deal with it ?

Originally Posted by @llli*s.p

I find the recliner idea and the amby baby idea interesting...
How did you keep the baby from falling when u slept on the recliner ? I am so sleep deprieved that I would not wake up if the house fell on me.

My son usually slept on my chest facing me, but by the time we started having to sleep in the recliner, I wasn't as sleep deprived as you are. My son was about a month old when he started having the symptoms of gerd, so I did have a few weeks of being able to lay him down without the inevitable projectile vomit. I'm sure that recliner sleeping isn't the expert recommended, but I had to do something to help us both sleep more. Then I found the Amby....

Amby bed--It didn't stop the sleep noises; my son is a really noisy sleeper. But he did sleep better in the Amby, and he had fun kicking around in it. As far as SIDS, I would say the Amby is as safe as other baby beds. As for choking, I believe that since the baby is more upright, his stomach acid is less likely to come back up his throat, which minimizes gagging, etc. Here's the website http://www.ambybaby.com/

Re: gerd baby -how do you deal with it ?

#1 - I eliminated dairy from my diet. #2 We decided to forgo the meds and kept baby on the steepest incline we could muster for the off chance we actually put him in the bassinette. (his papasan seat worked well at night too ) Otherwise some one was holding him. This occured for almost all of his first 6 months of life.